Rotary printing machine



Q M A", QC Feb. 13, 1945. E. G. OVERLY 2,369,

ROTARY PRINTING MACHINE Filed Oct. 29, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Elmer 6. Ore/W ATTORNEYS Feb. 13, E QVERLY ROTARY PRINTING MACHINE Filed Oct. 29, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTQR flmer 6 Over/y w? Q/Zl ATTORNEYS Feb. 13, 1945. ov 2,369,404

ROTARY PRINTING MACHINE Filed Oct. 29, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet- 3 INVENTOR flmer 6 Over/y ATTORNEYS Search Room Feb. 13, 1945. E. G. OVERLY ROTARY PRINTING MACHINE;

Filed Oct. 29, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR f/mer 6. ave/7y BY ZMM M ATTORNEYS lUi. Hit

inlai- Patented Feb. 13, 1945 UNITED Search R:

STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to a rotary printing machine and particularly to one for printing upon sheets that are relatively stiff and for that reason show a tendency not to conform to the sur face of a tympan cylinder.

Standard machines for printing envelopes, for instance, comprise means for passing the articles to be printed between a printing roll carrying the type and a, tympan cylinder. As envelopes are passed between these two members, the envelopes often buckle or bow, because of the stiffening effect of the folded end edges.

This tendency to project away from the cylinder is particularly noticeable on the entering or trailing edge of the envelope. As the type comes into engagement with the envelope standing away from the tympan cylinder, the type meets the envelope before the latter is in the proper relative position for printing, thus causing a slur as the type rides on the article and finally pushes it down firmly against the cylinder. Then, as the type leaves, the reverse happens and another slur is formed.

It is to avoid this slurring, in printing envelopes or other articles that because of stifiness have a tendency to project away from the tympan cylinder, that the present invention is directed. Another object is to Provide an improved rotary printing machine.

These and such other objects as will appear from the following description are secured by means of the construction disclosed.

The invention resides substantially in the combination, construction, arrangement and relative location of the parts of the machine described herein and will be illustrated by description in connection with the attached drawings, to which reference is made. More specifically, the invention comprises a rotary printing machine comprising special means for causing sheet material being printed to conform to the surface of the tympan cylinder. In the preferred embodiments of the invention, these special means include bearer strips attached to the printing roll or vacuum or magnetic force applied through the tympan cylinder. The invention comprises also the combination of two or more of these special means used jointly.

Fig. 1 is a side elevatonal view largely in section of my improved printing machine.

Fig. 2 is a front view of a portion of the machine.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of a modified form of the machine.

Figs. 4 and 5 are side elevational views partly in section of modifications 01 the invention.

The various figures are in part diagrammatic.

There are shown a printing roll I, a lower coacting press member suchas the tympan cylinder including the sector 2, end flanges 3 supporting the said sector, sector-shaped counterweights 3a mounted on and extending toward each other from flanges 3, a type assembly or printing plate 4 mounted in usual manner on the roll I, and means for inking the type.

The inking means are of a kind commonly used in rotary printing machines and include the ink feed roller 5 providing a supply of ink and the ink transfer roller 8. The latter contacts the type as roll I, in rotating, brings the type under the cylindrical surface of roller 6.

Means are provided for feeding the envelopes I, one at a time, between the members I and 2. These means comprise conveyor belts 8 and 9 moved in the directions indicated by the arrows, around pulleys III and II respectively. The feeding means include also the chain conveyor I2 traveling around sprockets I3 and I4, and provided with upstanding envelope pushing and aligning elements I5 which are spaced equally distant from each other around the length of the conveyor. Back of the elements I5 shown in Fig. 1 and in line with the said elements are additional like elements. Those of the elements that lie in one line, extending transversely with respect to the direction of movement of the conveyor I2, constitute a series of elements which engage the edge of an envelope at a plurality of spaced positions and carry the envelope forward, in properly aligned manner, inside the side plates I6 and between the feeding rollers I1 and I8.

The guides I9 assist in directing the envelope to the space between the members I and 2 and against the stop member 23.

Disposed on the roll I and adjacent to either side of the printing plate 4 are holding strips or bearers 20. These strips grip the article being printed and force it in fixed approximately conforming relationship firmly against the tympan cylinder. They eliminate slipping or excessive buckling of the envelope as it passes between the printing roll I and the coacting sector 2.

As will be seen from the drawings, the strips 20 extend at least part way around the roll I circumferentially, that is, in the direction of movement of a point on the circumference thereof as the roll is rotated. They extend in this manner at least the distance between the forward and rear edges of the type and suitably to a substantial distance beyond the forward and rear edges of the type plate. The strips or bearers establish a segment of the printing roll which holds the article being printed firmly against the tympan cylinder.

The strips are spaced laterally so that two or more of them contact the envelope during its passage under roll I. The strips preferably extend near each side of the printing plate 4, so that they grip the envelope near the part thereof that is to be printed.

As a result of these dimensions and arrangements, the envelope being printed is gripped by the strips at all times from the moment preceding the application of the type to the envelope until after all the type has been impressed upon the envelope.

The ink transfer roller 6 is wider from left to right in Fig. 2 than the type on plate 4 but is somewhat more narrow than the space between adjacent ones of the strips 20. The roller is spaced to register approximately centrally with the type of plate 4. With such a roll so disposed, the ink is kept from the strips, although it is supplied as usual to all the type of the printing plate 4.

Strips 20 may be constructed and arranged in different ways. The construction illustrated in Figs. 1-3 comprises a sector-shaped roll I having end plates Ia carrying sector-shaped inwardly extending counterweights lb. The strips 20 are made of metal, or at least include a rigid metal frame, and fit circumferentially over the outer face of sector roll I, each strip 20 having suitable means for detachable mounting, such as tail piece 20a extending inwardly into retaining engagement with a suitable abutment such as a margin of sector roll I, and tail piece 20b at the other end extending inwardly beyond a similar abutment such as the opposite margin of said sector roll. The tail pieces 20a and 20b are arranged to permit the strip 20 to be slid readily along roll I into any desired position, and suitable means is provided for clamping the strip in such position, such as thumb screw 20c extending through tail piece 20b into engagement with the adjacent margin of sector roll I. Counterweights Ib are advantageously cut away or reduced in diameter to clear the end portions of strips 20.

The radial distances of the outer surfaces of strips 20 and type 4 from the axis of roll I depend upon the material employed in said strips and type, the elements being arranged to provide the necessary printing pressure while strips 20 hold the paper firmly against rule 2.

Strips 20 may also be composed of resiliently yieldable material such as a rubber compound having the necessary coefficient of friction, polymerized chloroprene of rubbery consistency (Duprene) synthetic rubber such as the polymerized butadiene (Buna) type, or the like, with usual fillers and compounding ingredients, and may be attached to roll I by a suitable cement, eliminating the necessity for thetail pieces and clamping structure employed with metal strips. In this form the outer surfaces of the strips extend slightly beyond the face of the type plate 4, a projection of five to ten per cent having been found suitable, and are adapted to be pressed inwardly to the level of the type under the pressure applied during printing.

As means for holding the forward edge of the envelope against the sector 2, there are provided the stop 23 and the fingers 2|. The fingers are small strips of semi-rigid metal, shaped as shown and mounted upon the rocker shaft 22. A cam, not shown, is used to lift the fingers 2| upon the rocker mounting, at the moment the forward edge of the envelope 1 is delivered to the space between the members I and 2, and then to release the fingers 2I when the envelope has been printed. Springs (not shown) urge the ends of the fingers against the envelope. The position of the leading edge of envelope I, fingers 2| and shaft 22 when the envelope is released is indicated in dot and dash lines in Fig. 1. After each envelope is released, it may be conveyed from the roll I and segment 2 by any suitable means, not shown.

A modification of the invention is shown in Fig. 3.

In this modification the rotary printing machine is the same as described above, except that the printing roll carries a plurality of laterally spaced printing plates 4 and the holding strips 20 of kind described are increased in number, a strip being disposed adjacent to each side of each one of the printing plates. In addition, the transfer roller 6 is now replaced by a plurality of laterally spaced transfer rollers 26 and 21, the number of which is the same as the number of the type plates 4, the individual rollers registering each approximately centrally with the said plates but being out of register with the holding strips. In other words, the rollers 26 and 21 are so placed and are of such width as to fit within the space between the strips 20, so as to keep ink from the said strips and at the same time ink the type of the printing plates 4.

A machine of the kind shown in Fig. 3 is useful, for example, in printing a return address near the left end of envelopes and the form number of the printing on the right end position later to be covered by a postage stamp.

Strips 20 when not in use may be conveniently stored by clamping them at one end of roll I as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, permitting rapid positioning of the strips for each new set-up.

The members I and 2 may be complete rolls, or sectors of rolls or hollow cylinders, so long as they have cylindrical shapes of those portions of the surfaces which register with each other during that part of the cycle of rotation when the printing plate is being pressed upon the article to be printed. The term "roll is intended to include sectors having cylindrical registering exterior surfaces.

While the operation of the machine has been illustrated in connection with the printing of envelopes, the machine is adapted for use with other types of articles, particularly, with sheet-like articles of paper (single or folded) so small that they would slip during the passing under the printing plate or so stifi that they would bow upwardly, unless the special holding strips 20 are provided. Such sheet-like articles may be substituted directly in the operation described.

The bowing up and resultant slurs or double printing or blurring are avoided by my strips 20. They force the sheet against the support and thus eliminate all but the final, desired contact with the type.

Modifications of the invention are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. These modifications are forms of a printing machine designed for the same general purpose as the embodiment described above and representing alternative means for holding objects to be printed in firm, approximately conforming contact with the tympan cylinder. In

these modifications the said means are largely incorporated into the tympan cylinder itself.

In the modification shown in Fig. 4 the tympan cylinder is provided with means for applying suction to the sheet 28 that is to be printed. Suitably, the sheet 28 is an envelope, a stiff card, or the like.

The means for applying suction include a portion of thestationary flange 29a around the end of the tympan cylinder provided with a manifold groove 29 which is in communication with a vacuum pump or other means of applying suction, as by means of the pipe 30. This flange is supported in conventional manner, say, upon the outer framework of the machine so that the said portion of the flange bears upon the end of the tympan cylinder, with the open side of the groove 29 toward the cylinder.

The tympan cylinder is provided also with a number of closely spaced holes 3| that are suitably more or less round in cross section and that extend lengthwise of the tympan cylinder, from the end bearing upon the flange provided with groove 29 at least to and suitably beyond the part of the cylinder that is overlain, during the printing operation, by the portion of the object 28 that is to be printed.

Closely spaced slot openings 32 extend from the holes 3| to the surface of the tympan cylinder, so that the suction is communicated to the sheet 28. The sheet is thus drawn firmly to the surface of the tympan cylinder and caused to conform approximately thereto.

The manifold groove 29 is so positioned with respect to the segment 2 of the tympan cylinder that, as the cylinder is rotated nearly to the position of printing, the holes 3| come into communication with the groove 29. In this way, the vacuum is applied to the said segment at the particular stage of its rotation when the vacuum is effective in drawing to the said segment sheet 28 to be'printed.

The flange is provided with an additional arcuate manifold groove 33 in direct communication with the atmosphere, as through the hole 44. This latter groove is adapted to place the holes 3| in communication with the atmosphere and thus release the suction within the holes, when the segment 2 has passed somewhat beyond the printing stage of the cycle.

An additional means of causing the approximate conformance of the sheet to be printed to the tympan cylinder is shown in Fig. 5. This modification is designed particularly for the printing of flexible metal sheets or plates that are magnetic, plates such as used, for example, in multilith printing and constituted of sheet iron.

In this form, magnets 34 are used. The magnets are so arranged that their terminals or poles are adjacent to the metal plate or sheet 35 during all of the stage of the cycle in which the plate or sheet is in contact with the type 4. Suitably, the magnets are embedded in and terminate at or near the peripheral edge of a nonmagnetic material 36, as, for example, a molded composition. The said composition may consist to advantage of a phenol-aldehyde resin, a ureaaldehyde resin, hard rubber, or the like. Or, the material 35 may consist of brass.

The magnet coils 44, 45, and 49 are suitably wired in the same direction. However, the coils are connected so that adjacent poles of the magnets are of like charge. Thus, the coils are connected in parallel, by means of the connec- DBEH'CH HOOTT tors such as the wires 31 and 38. As illustrated, the circuit is so established that the current moves in opposite direction in any two adjacent coils. In this way, there is given the same polarity to the first pole of the first magnet, the second pole of the second magnet, and the first pole of the third magnet (proceeding from left to right in Fig. 5, that is, in the direction of rotation of the tympan cylinder). The remaining poles of the three magnet have the opposite sign of charge from that of the poles first mentioned.

The rotating contact segments 39 of electrically conducting material and the electrical leadin wires 40 and Al, connected to a source (not shown) of direct current, provide means for completing the electric circuit and thus making the magnetic fleld, during the stage of the cycle of rotation of the machine which corresponds to the printing stage, and then breaking the electrical circuit after the printing stage of the cycle of rotation has been passed. The make and break equipment includes electrical contact brushes 42 and 43 secured to a stationary support of usual kind. These brushes contact the segments 39 during the printing stage of the rotation of the tympan cylinder.

It will be understood that parts of the machine which are not illustrated are conventional.

It will be understood, also, that the details given are for the purpose of illustration, not restriction, and that variations within the spirit of the invention are intended to be included in the scope of the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. A rotary printing machine comprising a rotary printing roll, means for mounting a printing element on the roll, an associated tympan roll, means for feeding the articles to the tympan roll with the advance edge of each article engaging the tympan roll substantially in advance of the printing zone, means on the tympan roll for holding the advance margin of each article against the tympan roll, and means carried by the printing roll for holding the trailing portion of the article against the tympan roll during printing, and comprising article holding strips extending circumferentially on opposite sides of the printing element and mounted on the printing roll independently of the printing element, said holding strips being mounted for axial adjustment along the printing roll independently of the printing element.

2. A rotary printing machine comprising a rotary printing roll, means for mounting a printing element on the roll, an associated tympan roll, means for feeding the articles to the tympan roll with the advance edge of each article engaging the tympan roll substantially in advance of the printing none, means on the tympan roll for holding the advance margin of each article against the tympan roll, and means carried by the printing roll for holding the trailing portion of the article against the tympan roll during printing, and comprising article holding strips extending circumferentially on opposite sides of the printing element and mounted on the printing roll independently of the printing element the holding strips being detachably mounted for axial removal from the printing roll without affooting the printing element.

3. A rotary printing machine comprising a rotary printing roll, means for mounting a printing element on the roll, an associated tympan roll, means for feeding the articles to the tympan roll with the advance edge of each article engaging the tympan roll substantially in advance of the printing zone, means on the tympan roll for holding the advance margin of each article against the tympan roll, and means carried by the printing rol1 for holding the trailing portion of the article against the tympan roll during printing, and comprising article holding strips extending circumferentially on opposite sides of the printing element and mounted on the printing roll independently of the printing element, and including clamping means holding the ends of each strip in longitudinally adjustable and axially removable en'gagement with the printing roll.

4. A rotary printing machine comprising a rotary printing roll, means for mounting a printing element on the roll, an associated tympan roll, means for feeding the articles to the tympan roll with the advance edge of each article engaging the tympan roll substantially in advance or the printing zone, means on the tympan roll for holding the advance margin of each article against the tympan roll, and means carried by the printing roll for holding the trailing portion of the article against the tympan roll during printing, and comprising article holding strips extending circumferentially on opposite sides of the printing element and mounted on the printing roll independently of the printing element, including means for clamping each holding strip in adjusted position on the cylinder, said clamping means comprising inturned end portions of each strip extending into cut away portions of the printing cylinder, abutments registering with said end portions, and means for clamping said end portions against the abutments.

ELMER G. OVERLY. 

